Industry Takes On Pain On The Job

Safety Measures In Effect At Canon Virginia

January 07, 1990|By TONNYA KENNEDY Staff Writer

NEWPORT NEWS — As an insurance company challenges a workers' compensation claim awarded to a former Canon Virginia Inc. worker, the copier maker has disclosed safety measures designed to reduce cumulative trauma disorders at its plant.

Those disorders, which some experts say will be the major occupational ailment of the 1990s, are caused or aggravated by repetitive motions and generally afflict the fingers, hands and arms.

Wanda Hillman, a former worker at Canon's Newport News plant, filed for workers' compensation claiming she developed the cumulative trauma disorder known as carpal tunnel syndrome on the Canon assembly line.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by injury to a nerve inside the wrist. It usually results in impaired or lost function in the fingers and part of the thumb and may cause numbness, tingling and pain in the hand.

Hillman, who lives in Newport News, was hired through Polly Lowe Personnel to work at Canon in June 1988. She was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in February 1989 while working as an assembler at Canon, according to the Virginia Industrial Commission, which heard her workers' compensation case.

Hillman was denied workers' compensation in July 1989 by a deputy commissioner of the state Industrial Commission. She appealed that decision and in October 1989 was awarded compensation amounting to $160 a week by the full commission.

William Walker, counsel for Polly Lowe's insurance company, is appealing that ruling to the Virginia Court of Appeals.

It could take several months for the appeal to be resolved by the appeals court, Walker said. He represents Royal Insurance Co. of America.

Walker said Hillman doesn't meet all of the requirements to receive worker's compensation coverage. He declined to detail the requirements.

According to Industrial Commission documents, Polly Lowe earlier contended that medical evidence didn't support the notion that Hillman contracted carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of her work at Canon. In challenging the compensation award, the company attempted to establish that Hillman used her left hand bowling and working at home.

Hillman said she has been out of work since her injury, except for a brief stint at a fast food restaurant, and depends on her husband's income for support.

"The bills have started going to collection agencies. It's been hard, very hard," she said. She said her medical bills exceed $10,000.

In a Nov. 28 letter to the Daily Press, Canon Public Relations Manager Jack G. Boyd Jr. wrote, "If the boards had ruled it was a work-related injury, the worker would have received worker's compensation. This is CVI's policy."

In the letter, Boyd wrote that Hillman's injuries were on two occasions deemed not work-related - once by a deputy commissioner and a second time by the full commission.

Industrial Commission documents showed that to be inaccurate, and in an interview last month, Boyd corrected his statement.

Boyd said Canon officials will have no additional comment on the Hillman case because it is Polly Lowe's appeal, not Canon's.

"All workers at Canon Virginia Inc., whether temporary or permanent, may receive workers's compensation if they acquire a work-related injury," Boyd wrote in the Nov. 28 letter.

Boyd's letter to the newspaper was in response to a column about Hillman by Daily Press columnist Jim Spencer and to news articles about Hillman and another temporary worker who was placed by Polly Lowe.

The other worker, Karen Tarr, claimed she developed hand and wrist injuries at Canon. Tarr received workers' compensation benefits but filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court saying she was fired because she applied for the benefits.

The newspaper published the story about Tarr's lawsuit and Canon's response that her application for benefits did not cause her dismissal.

In the letter to the Daily Press, Boyd listed some of the safety procedures at the Newport News manufacturing plant.

Canon had previously revealed little about its policies when questioned about cumulative trauma disorders. Beyond the description in the letter, Boyd would not elaborate on the policies for this article.

The company has a safety department, task force and committees to deal with cumulative trauma injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, Boyd wrote. Canon also hired a physical therapist to make a videotape of wrist and hand exercises.

In the letter, Boyd cites Canon's "severity rate" as evidence of a safe workplace. Severity rate is a measure of safety also known as the incidence rate. It represents the number of lost work days a year per 100 full-time workers in a company with more than 50 workers, according to the Virginia Labor and Industry Department.

According to Boyd, Canon Virginia has a severity rate of 24.4 compared with a national average of 36.6.